Sliding side jaw wrench having a pivoted rack catch



Aug. 13, 1968 w. c. GORE ET AL SLIDING SIDE JAW WRENCH HAVING A PIVOTED RACK CATCH Filed April 11, 1967 fnwemiavzs fl f/z'mra 63 60mg wad iz yezze ,5 fia azm J United States Patent 3,396,614 SLIDING SIDE JAW WRENCH HAVING A PIVOTED RACK CATCH William C. Gore, Sh'eamwood, and Eugene B. Shapiro, Highland Park, Ill., assignors to Chicago Specialty Manufacturing Co., Skokie, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 630,093 3 Claims. (Cl. 81136) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to improvements in a wrench, and more particularly to a slip and lock nut wrench for tightening and/or loosening large size nuts, which includes a manually slidable jaw member held in its adjusted slidable position by a pivoted lever normally urged to locking position but which lever is manually pivoted to a retracted position to release its locking position relative to the slidable jaw member.

Brief summary of the invention The wrench forming this invention comprises a stationary member integrally formed to include the handle and a fixed jaw, a slidable jaw member manually adjustable relative to the stationary jaw, and means which in cludes a pivoted lever for nor-mally locking and maintaining the slidable jaw in its moved adjusted position, with the lever manually movable to release the slidable jaw for another adjustment.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the wrench forming this invention and showing in dotted lines the outermost position of the adjustable jaw member, as well as the retracted position of the pivoted handle member;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the movable member;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary elevational view taken from the side opposite to that of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the upper portion of the pivotal lever showing the detent thereof.

Description of the embodiments The wrench includes a member, herein defined as a stationary member and generally indicated at 10, which is cast to form a handle 12, an intermediate body portion 14, and a stationary jaw member 16, all integrally formed as one member. The intermediate body portion 14 is recessed as at 18 to provide a lower guide edge or shoulder 20 which extends the full Width of the body portion 14 and an upper guide edge or shoulder 22 adjacent the stationary jaw member 16. The recessed portion 18 and the shoulders 20 and 22 form a trackway for receiving the body portion of the movable member generally indicated at 24.

The movable member 24 comprises a lower body portion 26 with an upstanding jaw member 27 integrally cast or formed. The lower body portion 26 has an elongated slot 28. The lower edge 29 of the slot is provided with teeth 30 along a portion of its length. The opposite side of the movable member 24, best shown in FIGURE 4, has a shoulder 32 formed in the lower body portion 26 below the jaw 27 and the shoulder 32 is adapted to engage the upper edge 33 of the body portion 14 of the stationary member 10.

3,396,614 Patented Aug. 13, 1968 A pivoted lever, generally indicated at 34, formed of metal is shaped to form a handle portion 36 which is channel-shaped in cross-section and which continues upwardly to form spaced arms 38. The arms 38 curve upwardly and inwardly, as best seen in FIGURE 1. The front arm adjacent the top thereof is provided with an inwardly turned portion 40 (FIGURES 2 and 5) which is at right angles to the plane of the arm. The bottom of the turned portion 40 is chamfered as at 41 to form an edge which is adapted to engage the teeth 30. The inwardly turned portion 40 forms a detent.

The spaced arms 38 are each provided with an opening 42 which receives a pin or rivet 44. The pin 44 extends through the slot 28 of the movable member 24, as well as an opening 46 in the intermediate body portion 14 of member 10. A washer 48 is positioned bet-ween the outer arm 38 and the lower body portion 26 of the movable member 24 and is likewise supported on the pin. The opposite ends of the pin or rivet 44 have enlarged heads 50.

The body 26 of the movable member 24 rests against the inside wall of the intermediate body portion 14 and fits in the recessed portion 18 of the intermediate body .portion 14 of stationary member and between the lower and upper shoulders and 22 which define the trackway for the sliding movement of the movable member .24. The shoulder 32 on the opposite side of the movable member is in engagement with the top edge 33 of the intermediate body portion 14. This provides adequate support for the movable member 24 relative to the stationary member 10 and yet permits the movable member 24 to be manually slid or moved relative to the stationary member 10 to increase or decrease the space between the jaws 16 and 27. The outward and inward movement of the movable member 24 is limited by the length of the slot 28 which engages the pin or rivet 44 when the movable member is moved to its furthest inward or outward position.

Movement of the movable member 24 for the purpose of adjusting jaw 27 relative to jaw 16 can take place only when the pivoted lever 34 is in retracted position, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1.

To normally maintain the pivoted lever 34 in a look ing position, as shown in full lines in FIGURE 1, a spring 52 has one looped end 53 thereof attached to an opening 54 in the handle 12 with opposite looped end 56 engaging the opening 57 in the pivoted lever 34. This normally maintains the lever 34 against the handle 12 with the detent 40 engaging one of the teeth of the movable member 24 to hold the movable member in a fixed immovable position while the wrench is being used for loosening or tightening a nut.

To increase or decrease the width or space between the jaws 16 and 27, the pivoted lever 34 is retracted or pivoted outwardly, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1, thus disengaging the detent from the teeth 30 and permitting the movable member 24 with its jaw 27 to be manually slid in its trackway relative to the stationary jaw 16. When the proper spacing distance is obtained, the lever 34 is released and the spring 52 will retract it towards the handle to locking position, wherein the detent 40 of the lever will engage the proper tooth and hold it in locked position. When the lever 34 is retracted, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1, the top of the detent 4-0 abuts against the top edge of the slot 28 and limits the retraction of the lever 34 to the position shown.

In operating the wrench, the user simultaneously grips both the handle 12 and the lever 34 and holds them tightly, thereby preventing the lever 34 from pivoting away from the handle and preventing disengagement between the detent 40 and the teeth 30 and thus holding the slid- 3 able jaw 27 in a fixed adjusted position during operation of the device as a wrench on nuts and the like.

The two opposite sides of the wrench, as best seen in FIGURE 2, are substantially flush with the planes of the arms 38 of the lever 34 and the opposite heads 50 of the rivet or pin 44 do not appreciably extend beyond the arms 38. Thus, the wrench may be positioned and operated on nuts which are close to other surfaces and the nuts may be tightened or loosened without interference from the surrounding surfaces.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made from the foregoing without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A wrench of the character described comprising, a stationary member having a handle, a body portion and a jaw, with the jaw substantially parallel with said handle, a manually slidable member comprising a body portion and a jaw, said last mentioned body portion having a slot and teeth adjacent said slot, the body portion of said slidable member positioned adjacent the body portion of said stationary member with the jaw of said slidable member extending substantially parallel to said handle, a lever pivotally secured to the body portion of the stationary member, said lever extending substantially the length of said handle, said lever having means cooperating with the teeth on said body portion of the slidable member to lock said slidable member in an adjusted position, spring means for normally urging the pivotal lever towards the handle of the stationary member to normally hold the slidable member in a locked position through engagement of the means on the lever with said teeth, said handle and lever being normaly engaged by a persons hand wherein the lever is urged towards said handle to maintain the slidable member in the locked position when said wrench is being used, said lever adapted to be pivoted away from said handle to efiect an unlocking of said slidable member to permit adjustment thereof.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which the means on the lever cooperating with the teeth on the body portion of the slidable member is a detent on the lever.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which the spring has one end connected to the lever and the other end to the handle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 596,825 1/1898 Pugsley 81136 2,026,001 12/1935 Rapinet 81357 MILTON S. MEHR, Primary Examiner. 

